Week 8

Psalm Reflection #8 … Psalm 143 … A Prayer in Time of Need

During these weeks, we have considered several different kinds of psalms that are scattered randomly throughout the Psalter. We have taken note of a distinct group called Wisdom Psalms (see Week 2, Psalm 1; Week 6, Psalm 25). Last week we considered Psalm 107 which is a Thanksgiving Psalm. In week 1, we took up Psalm 23 which is a Prayer of Confidence. Note that the varied assortment of psalms reflect something of the way we approach God at every moment and under every situation of life. Does this random arrangement teach us something?

Here in Psalm 143, we encounter another type of Psalm, the personal lament. It is also a Penitential Psalm. The lament form may sometimes catch us off guard because the language of lament can seem out of place in our prayer to God. Often there is harsh criticism of the "enemy", wishing that evil would befall them! We could spend much time discussing how and why such language is considered prayer, much less how it is God's word to us! A couple of ideas:

1) Imagine that the original pray-er has experienced betrayal, disappointment, injustice, etc. Rather than take revenge into his own hands, the pray-er hands the anger over to God, not holding on to the bitterness personally, but laying it squarely in God's lap because there is trust that God will right the wrong.

2) About the "enemy" who seems to put in an appearance often in this group of psalms…we can imagine the "enemy" as a metaphor for the various trials that afflict us whether sickness loss, disappointment, fear, addiction, etc. Indeed such are enemies that we might curse!

3) In the Psalms of Lament, the human cry to God touches us and we are able to identify with the universal pain of the human condition. Even if we are not in such dire straits at the moment, such prayer from the heart unites us with those who are suffering in one way or other. Such prayer opens us to be sensitive to the suffering in the world around us.

4) Lament is a powerful prayer of trust in God. We hear this loud and clear in these prayers.

From the start of Psalm 143, the psalmist introduces himself to God as "your servant". Also at the end, the prayer closes with a reminder "I am your servant" as if a signature to the plea! This inclusio forms a bracket around this prayer that is set before God. The servant, traditionally one who listens readily to God and responds whole-heartedly, reminds God several times throughout the psalm that because of his faithful response, God must act! Carefully note the attitude of the "servant"/pray-er. There is an important message here! Based on the relationship, the servant asks … no DEMANDS of God that God hasten to answer, that God not hide his face, that God rescue him from the enemy and point out a smooth and level path to walk.

The psalmist's description of the anguish caused by the "enemy" is striking. The enemy has crushed his life like dust and left him like the dead. Does this bring to mind the state of Adam (humankind) before God breathed breath/life into the clay he formed? When the pray-er's own spirit fails (vs 4 &7), he begs God to "let his (God's) good spirit guide him".

In vs 5-6, again we see how devoted the servant is to what we know is so essential: listening and waiting on God. He remembers, ponders, muses (meditates) and stretches forth his hands to God (is this prayer?). The request to know God's love in the morning, and the plea to know God's ways because he has lifted up his soul to God (vs 8) seems to suggest the stance, attitude and the time given over to prayer and a search for God. Isn't this the outline for Lectio Divina? (read, ponder, meditate, be united with God!)

One has the sense that prayer is part of an accustomed pattern of an on-going relationship with God. This servant does not appear before the divine presence only when the going gets rough! But is there faithfully each morning. I was drawn to make some parallels with the Lord's Prayer (Luke's version) that was read last Sunday. You might also find this helpful. There is the same direct appeal to God using the imperative mode, a reminder of God's righteousness, of the weakness of the human condition, the daily turning to God in prayer and the urgent request to be delivered from what could harm us.

At this point of mid-summer, I think we will do 2 more weeks of these Psalm reflections. Then it is "School time" and hopefully, you will have formed a pattern for yourself of how to select a Psalm and venture forth on your own to pray.